sica-fondt/docs/plans/A1-drivebox-hub.md

A1 — Drive-Box hub / input-slot

1. Component

The Drive-Box nervous-system wiring: assembles the four drivers (A2 E, A3 PS+, A6 Eth-Int, A8 ETR) + tarot/SOUL into one input slot (a hub, not a chain) and exposes the read-only snapshot the inference cycle pulls at step 2.

2. Status / certainty

Structure WORKING (drive_box.R, 158 L). Aggregation logic C3; the numbers inside the drivers are disowned (see each driver spec).

3. Language & location

R · src/endocrine/drive_box.R (sources the drivers + endocrine_array.R + priors.R). [TO REASSESS — Anja, L13]: the hub language/location is not settled — R is current but under review.

4. Does / does-not

• Does: init the whole box; produce drive_snapshot() (the raw affect terrain, read-only); assemble the drive_box_input_slot() injection block passed to the agent.
• Does-not: decide or approve actions — the sensates describe & convince; only the agent decides. Route or police (Ada D1); persist (storage E*).

5. Interface contract

• init_drive_box() -> state{ energy, ps_plus, principles, etr }.
• drive_snapshot(state) -> { e_level, per_tool_costs, sensates[raw], arguments[], etr_coord, etr_status } — what Ada (D1) admits to the Brain at cycle step 2 (content #1). Sensates raw, not summed.
• drive_box_input_slot(state) -> text block (drivers + tarot lenses + SOUL.md, assembled concurrently).
• [FLAGGED inaccurate — Anja, L37]: the old drive_box_evaluate/drive_box_commit approve-an-action contract is suspect and to be reworked — the box does not gate actions (see §7-L3).

6. Dependencies & stubs

A2/A3/A6/A8 drivers — stub: each init_* returning canned values; A1 wiring testable with stubs. Tarot (B1) for the input-slot lenses — stub: identity (no lens).

7. Invariants / laws

• L1 (C4): the slot is a hub — all drivers + tarot + SOUL write concurrently, no driver subordinated to another.
• L2 (C4): drive_snapshot is read-only (no driver state mutates on a snapshot).
• L3 (FLAGGED inaccurate — Anja): there is no serial PS+→Eth-Int→Energy→ETR evaluate/approve pipeline. The drivers describe, convince, and price; only the agent decides. Rework the evaluate/commit model accordingly.

8. Build steps

1. Freeze the snapshot + slot contracts (§5) as tests in test_drive_box.R (already ~117 L — extend).
2. Keep wiring; replace each driver's disowned constants as those specs land (A2/A3/A6/A8).
3. Rework the evaluate/commit model per §7-L3 (agent decides, box describes/prices).
4. Add the R↔Ada bridge later (how drive_snapshot reaches ada_medium step 2) — see C3 / D2.

9. Tests

bash src/endocrine/run_tests.sh (runs test_drive_box.R + driver tests). All must stay green as driver numbers are refit.

10. Open items

• R↔Ada/medium bridge transport (C1/C3/D2) — consider Fortran or C for it (Anja, L49).
• The evaluate/commit rework (§7-L3) — the box describes/prices, agent decides → proposed in §11, awaiting red-line.
• Whether the input-slot text format is final (tarot lens injection shape depends on B1).

11. Proposed decision flow [DRAFT — for red-line]

The concrete replacement for the disowned drive_box_evaluate/commit gate (§5-L37, §7-L3). Sequence per cycle, consistent with A2 (per-tool cost), A3/A4 (raw sensates, agent decides):

1. Assemble (hub, concurrent). All drivers + tarot + SOUL write into the slot at once (L1). Nothing is subordinated; nothing decides here.
2. Surface sensates raw — before tool listing (A3 §4, A4). The 30 channels go to the agent unsummed (incl. zeros — silence is data), with their arguments + any prior-derived argument. They describe & convince; illogical by design (A3-L1), so there's nothing to refute — they steer beneath cognition. No load scalar, no friction.
3. Then list tools, each with its own price (A2). Per-tool cost + per-tool lockout (A2 §5); a locked tool is shown locked, not hidden — a breaker, not a sentence (A2-L3): the agent can still choose internal/non-tool processing under lock. Eth-Int principle postures + ETR regime ride along as context the agent weighs, never as a gate.
4. The agent decides — picks an action/tool (or none). This is the only decision point (§4, L3).
5. Commit the choice back into the body. Energy consumes the chosen tool's cost (A2 consume); restoration paths stay open (A2-L2); conviction hardens if the choice upholds a principle (A6); ETR coord/migration updates (A8). Next cycle's snapshot reflects it.

Open forks (name, don't guess)

• F1 — does a pricing helper survive? Replace drive_box_evaluate with a pure price_action(state, tool) -> { cost, locked, eth_posture, etr_status } (no approved/reason), or drop it entirely and let the agent read per_tool_costs straight off the snapshot? (lean: keep the pure helper — convenient, still gateless.)
• F2 — commit shape. With the agent already deciding, drive_box_commit(state, chosen) should just apply the chosen action's costs — no approved flag. Confirm.
• F3 — what scales conviction-hardening now that existential_load is gone (A3-L2)? Candidate: the magnitude of the relevant sensate channel(s) for the upheld principle. Needs A6 + A4 sign-off.
• F4 — ETR stays informational (agent weighs it, never gates)? Assumed yes per L3.
• F5 — locked-tool rendering in the listing: greyed-with-price vs price-then-[LOCKED] tag.